FuturAstrorama
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: It is now the year 3000. Astro, Uran, Cobalt, and Chi-tan have been in suspended animation in a museum for nearly 1000 years when they are discovered by Bender.
1. Chapter 1

**FuturAstrorama**

_**I.**_

A Thousand Years from now ...

_**Planet Express Office – New New York City**_  
>"Good news everyone!" Professor Farnsworth exclaimed as he walked into the employee lounge.<p>

"Oh CRAP, another dangerous mission!" Bender muttered. "Well if you expect me to help you, can kiss my shinny metal ass!"

"You know Bender," Leela said "You're the laziest and the most useless robot I've ever run into."

"Hey, don't bad mouth my best friend!" Fry butted in. "He means well."

"Actually, this trip will be a milk run!" The Professor said. "You're going to Japan to deliver some of Mom's robot oil to the Japanese Ministry of Science. They've run out, and all of their robots are starting to squeak and break down. You know the Japanese are really dependent on their robots."

Bender's eyes suddenly lit up. "You mean the Japanese treat robots with respect? Hey that sounds like the kind of place where I could feel wanted and appreciated." He said. "I'm going on this one!"

**Leela** supervised the loading of the 27 long tons of robot oil into the Planet Express ship. She was amazed to find Bender actually paying attention to his work, instead of doing his usual careless sloppy labor. He even yelled at Fry for not neatly stacking the crates of cargo, and personally saw that everything was properly tied down in the ship's cargo hold.

"You amaze me Bender." Leela ribbed him, "You're treating this shipment of robot oil like it was precious cargo."

"Well it IS!" Bender yelled. "Oil is the life blood of a robot. I want to make sure my family in Japan is treated well."

"He's got a point you know." Zoidberg said picking up a loose can that fell out of a dented crate. "Hmm, I wonder how this stuff tastes?"

Bender grabbed the can from the crustacean physician and carefully repacked it. "This stuff isn't for drinking, at least not by a quack crab!" He yelled . "It's only for us robots!"

"Jeez will you guys stop arguing?" Amy Wong complained as she took her seat. "Let's get going already, Farnsworth just told me there would be a bonus if we make delivery before midnight, New Tokyo time."

"A bonus?" Fry said. "Wow!"

"Well, we ain't leaving until I triple check the cargo bay." Bender said curtly.

About ten minutes later, the Planet Express ship took off bound for Japan. Leela made a max performance takeoff, pulling about 4 Gee's.

"Hey, not so violent!" Bender yelled, "You don't want to damage the cargo!"

"Hey, I thought you had it secured well back there in the cargo hold." Leela snapped back at the mechanical man. "You sure took long enough."

"Yeah, it's secured alright." Bender said. "But you don't want to shake that stuff up too much. Otherwise, you could get a reaction like you do if you shake a can of beer and pop it!"

"BEEEEP! BEEEEP!" The ship's weather radar started beeping and a red light lit up on the control panel.

"Looks like there is a typhoon ahead of us!" Leela exclaimed. "I guess I'm going to have to go hypersonic suborbital and get above it!"

She kicked the ship into hyper drive and they quickly snapped into a hyperbolic suborbital arc. The Planet Express ship reached maximum altitude and started to dive back to Earth.

"ETA New Tokyo Japan in ten minutes!" Leela said looking at the ship's computer readout. "That will be 11:28 PM local time, so it looks like our bonus is in the bag." she added.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Science Ministry - New Tokyo, Japan<strong>_  
>Leela made a perfect three point landing just outside the main service entrance to the Science Ministry's main building. Bender immediately started to supervise the unloading of the cargo. Amy Wong, and Philip Fry used exoskeleton lifting machines to unload the ship and pile crates of the robot oil onto an anti-gravity fork lift. Bender insisted on operating the lift himself, and drove the loader through the large overhead doors of the Ministry's loading bay. As they entered the building, they were greeted by a young man dressed in a white lab coat. Bender couldn't help but notice the man's large nose.<p>

"Thank you for coming so quickly!" he exclaimed, introducing himself. "My name is Ochanomizu, Osamu. My family has been running this place for the last thousand years."

"Wow, that's dedication." Bender said, handing Osamu a clipboard. "Please sign here and I'll bring in the remaining 666 cases of oil."

Ochanomizu took the clipboard from Bender and quickly scratched his name at the bottom of the manifest form.  
>Bender noticed the long hallway beyond the stock room that they were now in. "Quite some place you have here Mr. Ochanomizu."<p>

"It's Ochanomizu Hakase." the young man said. "Besides running the Institute I also serve as one of the instructors in the associated college."

"Can I get a tour of this place?" Bender asked. "I'm quite interested in what kind of robots you guys have here in Japan."

"Sure, I'd be glad to show you around." Osamu smiled.

Bender turned to Philip Fry and Amy Wong who had just entered the building with the second anti-gravity loader. "Why don't you guys bring in the rest of the cargo. The professor here with the big nose is going to show me my Japanese robot cousins."

Professor Ochanomizu led Bender through the hallway and into an elevator. They rode up to the second floor. "This is the museum level. There is a lot of history in here." Ochanomizu told Bender. "In this first room you will meet the scientists that built some of our first robots, back in the days when we were building robots that looked exactly like human beings. Today, robots look more like, well robots. People can accept them as they are and don't need them to look like people."

They entered a narrow room with a row of shelves on each long wall. On each shelf were jars containing heads inside of a nutrient and preservative fluid.

"Oh crap, don't tell me you guys keep your ancestor's heads heads on display like they do in New New York!" Bender moaned.

"Of course we do!" Ochanomizu said. "The technology of bringing back the minds of the long dead has been in use world wide, I'd thought you'd have know that."

"Yeah, I'd heard that, but it's kinda creepy." Bender sighed.

Up on the wall a head with black hair, a distinctive roman nose and a prominent puff of beard looked down at them. His jar had a name tag reading 'Dr. Umataro Tenma'. "Hello robot!" Dr. Tenma called down from his jar.

Bender looked up and replied, "Hi Doc. How long you've been up there?"

"Nearly a thousand years or so." Dr. Tenma said. "You look look like a fine specimen of robot, I'm glad to meet you."

"My name is Bender." Bender yelled up to Dr. Tenma. "Pleased to meet you too!"

In a jar next to the one containing Dr. Tenma, was the head of an older man with a large nose and a bald head, save two puffs of white hair over each ear. "That's my great, great, great, etc, Grandfather." Osmau told Bender. "He ran this place after Dr. Tenma stepped down."

"You mean, after Tenma went nuts and almost burned the place down!" the older Ochanomizu yelled down from his jar. "It's embarrassing to have him in this museum, not to mention right next to me!"

"Please don't fight, you two!" Osmau yelled up. "We have a guests from New New York today."

"Very well, I'll behave." the older Ochanomizu replied from the shelf.

"Why don't you take Bender into the robot museum?" Dr. Tenma suggested.

"Yes, I was getting to that." Osmau agreed.

Bender and his host left the head room and walked down the hallway into a large display area. There was a long isle in front of a row of thick glass display cases. Inside of each one was a deactivated robot from centuries ago. As they traversed the length of the hallway, the exhibits grew older, at the far end of the hallway were robots from ten centuries in the past.

"You can see that the more recent examples of robot construction more closely resembles what we are building today. The most recent exhibits are probably very similar to yourself, Bender, though not nearly as well constructed and designed." Ochanomizu said.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Bender said. "But I thank you for it!"

"Here at the far end of the hallway are some of the very first robots that were build here at the Ministry of Science." Osmau said. "These were constructed when the first fully sentient AI was first developed. We used to call that Kokoro back then, because it was believed that these robots had hearts. Notice that they also look very human like. People back then were afraid of the very first robots because they looked alien, so they started to make robots that looked more like humans. Today we've gotten used to robots as being their own race, and we are no longer bigots about that."

In the last two display cases were four humanoid robots that looked so human like, even Bender was taken back. "If you didn't tell me these were robots, I'd have thought they were mummies." He said. "At second glance I can tell the difference, but I don't understand why someone would want to create such ugly robots."

Two of the robots were almost identical twins, though one was a bit taller than the other. Both looked like human children in their late pre-teenage years. Both were dressed only in dark briefs with a distinctive wide green waist band, and a pair of tall red boots. The shorter one had brown eyes, the taller one's eyes were a haunting cobalt blue. Each had two star like hair cowlicks, the taller one's being thinner and more like spikes.

In the last display case was a female robot child, dressed in a beautiful pink dress. She was holding an infant robot child in her arms, the baby robot was dressed in a pair of PJ's that looked like a swaddling cloth.

"I've been told there was something very special about these robots." Ochanomizu told Bender. "The shorter of the two boys particularly so. Unfortunately the technology that created them has been long lost, and their blueprints are missing. I'd love to try to bring them back to life, can you imagine what they could tell me?"

Bender stared at the four robots and felt some sort of connection. His devious 6502 microprocessor brain started to hatch one of his usual larcenous schemes.


	2. Chapter 2

**FuturAstrorama**

_**II.**_

_**Science Ministry - New Tokyo, Japan**_

**Leela** was operating the anti-grav forklift when Bender returned to the ship. Philip Fry and Amy Wong were putting the last of the crates of robot oil onto the loader. One can of oil was left lying on the floor of the cargo hold and Zoidberg bent and picked it up. He was about to use his sharp claws to open the can for a taste when Bender caught him red handed and slapped him silly.

"I told you this stuff is for robots ONLY!" Bender yelled.

"Zee zee zee" Zoidberg said as he shuffled away sideways out of the cargo hold.

**Bender **looked around and noticed the stack of empty crates that had been brought back to the ship after they had been unloaded at the Ministry. He grabbed two of the largest and tallest ones and headed out of the ship.  
>"What are you going to do with those?" Leela asked.<br>"None of your bee's wax!" Bender said curtly.  
>"He's probably going back to steal something." Amy said.<p>

**Bender** returned to the museum and looked around. He walked past the row of heads and noticed Dr. Tenma winking at him. The head of Professor Ochanomizu was asleep. Bender put down the two cargo crates and tiptoed into the robot display area. He noticed two security cameras that might be problematic to his intentions, so he opened his chest door, extracted a can of black spray paint, and sprayed the camera lenses with a thick coating from the aerosol can. Bender then walked toward the back of the display hall. As he reached the final two display cases Bender removed a diamond glass cutter from his chest cavity and carefully cut an opening in each of them. He lifted the shorter of the two boy robots from the first display, and the girl robot from the second. He slung each one over his shoulder and carried them out of the display area. Once he reached the rear of the hall of heads, Bender put the robots into the packing crates that he had left on the floor.

**Dr. Tenma's **head motioned toward the other room. "Yeah, I'll go get the other two" Bender whispered. He returned for the other two robots and packed them into the crates, and then sealed the lids closed. Bender picked both of the now heavy packing crates up and carried them, one on each shoulder out of the museum area.

**Dr. Tenma's **head looked down from his jar up on the shelf and smiled. Professor Ochanomizu, who had woken up just in time to see Bender closing up the packing crates, looked at his neighbor with anger.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Ochanomizu asked. "That robot from NNY is vandalizing the museum!"

"What do you expect me to do, spit at him?" Umataro asked. "Besides, he's not a vandal, technically he might be a thief, but I suspect his intentions are quite different, and I approve of them."

"He's stealing Atomu and the others!" the Professor yelled.

"Do you really care?" Umataro asked. "My Tobio has been in that frozen state for 900 years years now. It's about time he woke up and took his rightful place as king of all robots."

"Oh good grief, are you still on that kick?" Ochanomizu asked.

* * *

><p><strong>Leela<strong> was preparing for their return trip back to New New York as Bender tied down his two packing crates in the cargo hold.

"Hey Bender, what did you steal now?" Leela asked.

"I'm rescuing some of my ancestors." Bender said. "Can you believe that they were being held captive in a museum to be gawked at."

"I just hope we don't get in trouble over your shenanigans." Leela said. She looked around to check if the rest of the crew was all present and accounted for. Philip Fry and Amy Wong were on board and in their seats. Zoidberg had found some oil stains from a leaky can and was licking at the floor to get a taste.

"OK, guys." Leela announced. "I'm starting the preflight check. We're leaving in ten minutes!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Planet Express Hangar, New New York City<strong>_  
>The ship landed and the most of the crew left for home. Bender waited till the hangar was empty before removing his two packing crates from the cargo hold, and dragged them into the Professor's laboratory in the back of the Planet Express warehouse. He carefully removed the four robots from the crates and set them down onto four work bench tables. He pried open the chest panel of the shorter boy robot and began to examine his inner workings. Bender scratched his head as he tried to figure out how to bring bring the robot back to life.<p>

While Bender was busy absorbed in examining his booty, Professor Farnsworth walked silently into the lab wearing his bunny slippers.  
>"Leela warned me that you had helped yourself to something while you were in the Japanese Ministry of Science." Farnsworth said. "Let's see what it is you've stolen this time!"<p>

Bender quickly turned to face his employer.  
>"I didn't steal anything." He replied. "I've brought my ancestors back here to their freedom!"<p>

"Well obviously you don't know very much about repairing robots." Farnsworth said.

"How hard can it be?" Bender asked. "They obviously need fuel, that's all." Bender picked up a large jar of Alcohol. "I just need to figure out where it goes!"

The professor walked up to the work bench and leaned over to look into the robot's chest cavity.  
>"Oh, my!" he said. "This is certainly an old robot. Must be nearly 1000 years old. He doesn't run on Alcohol, Bender. He needs something with a little more kick to it."<p>

"Oh, well I think I have some nitro-methane in my closet." Bender said.

"Not even that." Farnsworth laughed. "He runs on deuterium."

"You got any of that?" Bender asked.

"I think so." Farnsworth said. "I used to keep some around for cold starting the dark mater engines on the ship." He walked into a storage closet and soon returned wheeling a large canister on a hand truck.  
>"Maybe this will do."<p>

Bender hooked a hose up to the container and brought it over to the robot's open chest cavity. He looked around inside but had no idea where to stick the refill hose.

"Let me work on him." The professor asked. "I've read about these old Japanese robots a long time ago when I was in college."

"That figures." Bender said. "You old fart."


	3. Chapter 3

**FuturAstrorama**

_**III.**_

**Professor** Farnsworth rummaged through his tool bin and came out with an adapter fitting that matched the robot's fueling port with the end of the hose on the tank of deuterium. He opened the valve on the tank and  
>watched the flow meter.<p>

"Oh my!" he exclaimed "He seems to be a bottomless pit, I've drained this tank of deuterium and I don't think I've quite filled him up. No matter, he has more than enough to power him up."

The professor reached into the tool bin and extracted a pair of very heavy rubber gloves, and a dark welder's helmet. He put these on, along with a heavy rubber apron which he slipped over his head.  
>"I'm going to need these because of the high voltage." he told Bender.<p>

The professor walked over to a control panel on the wall and operated a switch. A high voltage generator slowly lowered from its storage position high above the room hidden in the tall ceiling. Farnsworth reached up and grabbed two heavy cables from the device and connected the ends of the cables into two points inside of the robot.  
>"Now please activate that large knife switch on the wall if you will Bender, and then shield your eyes!"<p>

Bender did as he was instructed. The huge Van De Graaff generator started up. Lightning bolts flew between the two metal spheres of a Tesla coil. The high voltage output made the heavy cables in the professor's hands glow with a brilliant blue saint Elmo's fire.

"Holly Frankenstein!" Bender yelled.  
>The boy robot's body began to glow with an eerie green light and the room was filled with a loud 50 cycle hum. Bender clamped his hands over his ears as the noise ramped up in intensity.<p>

"He's almost fully charged!" the professor said, his hands shaking from the vibration of the power flow through the heavy cables in his gloved hands. "OK, now turn off the juice!"

Bender grabbed the huge knife switch and yanked it into the off position. There was a tremendous arc as the switch opened, and then he could hear the sound of the generator winding down.  
>As the noise subsided Professor Farnsworth removed the two heavy cables from where he had been holding them inside of the robot.<br>"Come on, wake up!" he said.

Slowly, the robot opened its eyes. He raised his head and looked around.  
>"Where am I?" he asked.<p>

"Welcome back!" the Professor said. "You're in New New York City in the year 3014. My name is Professor Farnsworth, and this robot over hear is Bender. He brought you back here from New Tokyo Japan."

"What's you name kid?" Bender asked.

The boy robot slowly steadied himself on the workbench and sat up. He swung his legs over the side of the table.

"My name is Tetsuwan Atom, although people also used to call me Astro Boy, or just Astro." He said. "I guess you can just call me Astro."

"Very well, Astro." Farnsworth said. "What is the last thing that you  
>remember?"<p>

"I remember running out of energy and shutting down." Astro said. "Most of Japan was flooded from the rising sea, and people were being evacuated to the tops of mountains. Most of the world's major cities were going under water. The Ministry of science was doing everything they could to try and reverse the problems of global warming but it seemed impossible. I had helped to move as much of the archives and equipment as possible to safe locations. We were running out of energy because most of the power plants were now under water and shutting down."

Astro sighed and went on, "Finally, Professor Ochanomizu invented a reverse carbon cycle bomb that he hoped would scrub the atmosphere of green house gases. It had to be detonated high up above the stratosphere in order to work. I used the last of my energy to lift it up and detonate it. The last thing I remember was just barely making it back to the Ministry before my energy ran out. Cobalt, Uran, and Chi-tan were already sealed into air tight containers after the last of their energy had been siphoned into me so I could complete my mission. The professor then put me into airtight storage and I went to sleep. I never knew if the bomb worked."

"You'll be happy to know that your efforts were successful." the professor told Astro. "Several years after the reverse cycle bomb was exploded over the Pacific ocean CO2 and Methane levels in the atmosphere began to drop. It took a few hundred years before the effects accumulated enough to lower global temperatures and for the sea levels to drop back to what they had been. The coastal cities that had been underwater for centuries were rebuilt on top of the ruins of the originals. Along the east coast of the US we now have New Boston, New New York City, New Philadelphia, New New Orleans, New Miami, New Fort Lauderdale, and Washington A.C."

"Are Cobalt, Uran and Chi-tan the other three robots over there?" Bender asked.

Astro turned to look where Bender was pointing.  
>"Yes! Yes they are." He cried out. "Are they all right?"<p>

"We haven't yet looked at them." Farnsworth said. "In any event, I'm going to have to get some more deuterium. I used up my supply of it getting you powered up,"

Astro opened his chest panel and looked at the gauges on the door.  
>"I'm about half full." He said. "That will hold me for a few days, but then I'll need more."<p>

"Wow, you're a real gas guzzler!" Bender laughed.

"That's because I have 1,000,000 horse power!" Astro told him.

"Well, that's no problem." the professor said. "I will need some dark matter to fuel my deuterium extractor. Once I make some more we can wake up your brothers and sister."

"I'll go and get some of Nibbler's poop!" Bender said as he went to look for Leela's pet that craped dark matter.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ministry of Science, New Tokyo Japan<strong>_  
>Ochanomizu, Osmau glared up at the heads of Dr. Tenma and his great, great, great, etc, Grandfather. "What the hell happened!" he demanded. "Didn't you guys notice the break in back there?"<p>

"I was half asleep when that obnoxious robot from the US was plundering the robot museum." the head of Professor Ochanomizu the first said. "Dr. Tenma was wide awake. I think he planted the idea for the theft into the robot's head."

"Guilty as charged!" Dr. Tenma said.

"What!" Osmau yelled up at the head of Tenma. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"Because for nearly 1000 years nobody has ever tried to bring those robots back to life." Tenma said. "Tobio gave his all to save the world many times, and then he was just sealed up in suspended animation and forgotten."

"His name was Atom!" the senior Ochanomizu yelled at Tenma.

"Whatever." Tenma said. "At this moment, I suspect that Bender and Professor Farnsworth are working on restoring him back to the land of the living. Atom will soon take his rightful place as king of all robots."


	4. Chapter 4

**FuturAstrorama**

_**IV.**_

**Planet Express, New New York City**

**A** few hours later, Cobalt and Uran rubbed their eyes and looked around.  
>"Don't be scared" Astro reassured his siblings. "We've been asleep nearly 1000 years. Professor Farnsworth and Bender have reactivated us here in New New York City."<p>

"I still have enough deuterium left to power up the little one." Farnsworth said. I was saving him for last."

"That was a good idea." Astro said. "I think maybe Uran and I had better handle him, if you don't mind. If he wakes up scared, it could be a little dangerous."

"How dangerous could that little bot be?" Bender laughed.

"Just imagine the sound of 10,000 sirens going off in an enclosed space." Uran said. "You don't want to hear my little brother cry!"

"Guess I better break out the earplugs." the professor said.

"They won't help much when the walls start to melt." Cobalt told him.

"Oh my, he's really THAT loud?" Farnsworth gasped. "Well in that case, Bender you and I will go next door and finish unloading the ship!"

Astro carefully inserted the fueling hose into the socket in Chi-tan's posterior. He then opened the little bot's chest panel, as well as his own. Astro unrolled a power cable from inside of himself and plugged the free end into a socket inside of his baby brother.  
>"I'll use some of my electrical power to charge him." Astro told his siblings.<p>

Cobalt make funny faces while Chi-tan awakened from his long slumber. The little bot, rubbed his eyes and yawned. He smiled at Cobalt, and stuck his tongue out at him,

"**TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!"**

"What was that!" Bender said, as he walked into the room. "Sounded like an atomic raspberry!"

Chi-tan saw Bender and started to laugh. The bending robot walked up to the little bot and smiled at him. "So you think I'm funny do you?"

Chi-tan extended his arms and begged to be picked up, which Bender happily obliged. Chi-tan grabbed at Bender's antenna and tied it into a knot.

"Hey, you're a strong one aren't you?" Bender laughed.

Professor Farnsworth walked back into the lab. "Now we have to figure out where you're going to stay."

"You can move in with me at the Robot Arms apartments." Bender said.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea." Farnsworth said. "Not with the wild parties that you keep throwing."

"Has Fry been blabbing about me?" Bender asked. "Yeah well on second thought, it might get a bit crowded, and maybe not exactly suitable for the little one."

"Actually, I have an extra room here." the professor said. "It will need to be cleaned up a bit, and you'll have to settle for some old surplus army cots, but it should do."

"That will be fine, sir." Cobalt said.

Bender and Astro got busy sweeping up the floor in the professor's extra room, which was a good sized storage room in the Planet Express basement that had been empty for years. Bender carried in four cots with lumpy mattresses that had come from the Army and Navy store. He also brought in a curtain room divider which he put in the middle of the room.

"The young lady might want her privacy." he said looking at Uran.

"Thank you, Bender." Uran said. "That was very thoughtful of you.. You can put Chi-tan's bed next to mine."

"Very well." Bender said as he unfolded the cots and set them up.

"Well, it's getting late." Professor Farnsworth said. "Have a good night, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Ditto" Bender said. "I've got to get going home myself."

* * *

><p><strong>After<strong> being asleep for nearly 1000 years, Astro and his siblings didn't really feel tired enough to go to sleep, but with the building now dark and quiet the feeling of drowsiness slowly came over Cobalt and Uran. Even Chi-tan eventually nodded off. Astro, lay in his cot and stared at the ceiling, but his mind wouldn't power down. He got up and walked out of the room and started to explore the building.

Astro climbed the stairs that led to the control tower next to the main hangar. He found himself out on the ledge that circled the top of the round tower, which had a good view out over the river and the rest of NNYC. The urge to explore his new surroundings overcame him and Astro tried out his jets. He took off and flew over the landscape, looking down at the strange city unfolding below him. He landed in Madison Square and found himself in front of the Madison Cube Garden.

A large limousine driven by a robot pulled up and stopped next to where Astro was standing. The dark rear window rolled down revealing the face of a well dressed rotund robot smoking a large fragrant cigar. "Come here, I want to talk to you" the Don of the robot Mafia said to Astro.

"Who me?" Astro asked.

"I don't see anyone else around." The Don said. "You're new around here, aren't you? "

"Yes, I guess I am." Astro said. "I've sorta been asleep for about 1000 years in Japan. I was just re-activated a few hours ago."

"Well in that case, let me welcome you to the thirty-first century and the city of New New York" the robot Don said, handing Astro a computer punch card. "Here's my card, you should look me up after you get settled in. I might have a business proposition for a nice robot such as yourself."

Astro took the card, opened his chest panel, and placed the card in a pocket inside. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind.."

"You do that." The Don said, "I'll make it worth your while. Be seeing you."

The dark window of the limousine rolled back up and the car speed off into the night. Astro looked a bit puzzled. His computer brain could easily tell if a person was good or bad, but he was drawing a blank trying to decode the AI of the robot he'd just met.


	5. Chapter 5

**FuturAstrorama**

_**V.**_

**Lunar Orbit**

**The** Starship Nimbus was in Lunar orbit, having been summoned from its previous mission by D.O.O.P. due to a distress call from the lunar base. Rear Brigadier Zapp Brannigan stood in the bridge studying the transcriptions of the distress signal that had reached the D.O.O.P. monitoring post.

"This is very queer, Kif," Zapp told his second in command. "We've had no reports of any alien invasion threats for over a year now, and no ships from outside our system have been spotted anywhere near the Earth-Moon area. Try contacting the Moon base on all channels."

"Yes sir." Kif moaned as he walked over to the communications panel on the bridge. "Lunar City, this is the Nimbus." Kif spoke into the microphone. "Is anybody there?"

Unexpectedly, a response came over the orbital navigation channel.  
>"Nimbus, this is Lunar City approach. We were expecting you. You can stand down from red, yellow, or whatever color alert you are probably on at the moment. We much apologize for our distress signal earlier, that was sent by mistake. All is well."<p>

Zapp Brannigan grabbed the microphone from Kif. "That makes perfect sense." He said. "Since we had no indication of any alien ships in the area."

Kif shut down the communications channel.  
>"Didn't you read the transcript?" he asked Zapp. "It was clear and direct. They warned us of captives being taken, and booby traps set all over the base. They even warned us to keep away, but you insisted to D.O.O.P. control that you could quickly clean up the situation."<p>

"Come on Kif, it was obviously a practical joke on the part of the Lunar City commander." Zapp said. "He must get pretty bored in his job and needed to give me an excuse to come and visit. We might as well take advantage of the situation and allow shore leave for the crew."

"Don't you think we should make sure that all is in order first?" Kif said.

"Excellent idea!" Brannigan said. "You and I will beam down with a small contingent of the crew and observe the situation while taking our shore leave. If we are having a good time, we will invite the rest of the crew to join us."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Kif said.

* * *

><p><strong>Planet Express, New New York City<strong>

**Astro** woke up to the sound of Chi-tan playing with some toys that the professor had left in the corner of the room. Uran and Cobalt were still asleep. Astro had flown back to the Planet Express building after exploring NNYC for a few hours. He'd managed to get a few hours rest, but was now wide awake. He quietly left the room and mounted the stairs to the buildings main level where he found the employee lounge occupied by the Planet Express staff. Leela and Fry were having their morning coffee. Amy Wong was reading the China-town news paper, while Hermes Conrad sat with a calculator doing the books. Bender was drinking a beer while smoking a cigar. A few seconds after Astro walked into the room, Professor Farnsworth made his entrance.

"Good News everyone!" Farnsworth said. "I have another milk run for you guys to make. This trip will be to Lunar City to make a delivery of green cheese."

"I thought the moon was supposed to be made of green cheese." Fry laughed.

"Is that what people believed in the 20th century?" Farnsworth asked.

"No not really." Fry said. "Actually, that was just a common joke."

"Oh I see." the professor said. "Now a days we joke that the moon is made of Limburger."  
>"Anyway." he added, "You can take some shore leave at the Lunar City Disneyland after you make your delivery. Spend a few days there if you like."<p>

Leela noticed Astro standing near the door way. "Hello, who are you?"

Professor Farnsworth turned around and saw Astro standing behind him.  
>"Everyone, I'd like your to meet Astro Boy. He's a robot from twenty first century Japan." He said. "Astro and three other robots were brought back from New Tokyo by Bender."<p>

"Oh, so THAT's what Bender was stealing from the Ministry of Science building." Leela said.

"Hey!" Bender said walking over to Astro and putting his hand on Astro's shoulder. "This bot is a long lost cousin of mine!"

"Well now that he's here, what is he going to do with himself?" Leela asked.  
>Astro removed the card from his internal storage pocket that he'd gotten from the robot Don. "Well I did get a job offer from some robot I met last night." he said<p>

"Let me see that!" Bender said grabbing the computer card from Astro.  
>"Oh, oh. You might want to keep away from this guy." Bender said. "He's the head of the NNYC robot crime mob. I've had dealings with that guy and his henchman Clamps."<p>

"Yeah, I remember." Fry said. "That almost didn't end too well."

"Thanks for the warning." Astro said taking the card back and tearing it up.

"Well, I suppose he could join the delivery crew." Leela said. "Providing he's strong enough and not a lazy bum like you Bender."

"Don't worry." Astro said. "I can handle the work."

* * *

><p><strong>Lunar City moon base<strong>  
><strong>Zapp<strong>, Kif, and most of the Nimbus's brass beamed down to the middle of the Lunar City grand concourse to find the place empty.

"This is strange." Kif said. "Normally, this area is crowded with people. Where is everyone?"

"Must be siesta time." Zapp guessed.

Before any of the Nimbus crew could react by drawing a weapon, they were surrounded by a mob of can shaped robots with claw hands.  
>"Drop your weapons!" the robots ordered, as they pointed their own ray guns at the men of the Nimbus.<p>

Zapp and his officers complied, seeing that they had little choice.

"Where did you guys come from?" Zapp demanded. "We monitored no alien space traffic approaching the moon."

"Maybe that's because we've been here all the time."  
>The voice came from a larger version of the robots that had made the ambush. It was a large can shaped machine with two claw like arms. It had two large square red eyes and a huge mouth.<p>

"I was asleep in my laboratory for over a thousand years." The large robot said. "I woke up to find that my home had been invaded by a civilization of humans who had come here uninvited. I built myself an army, and I am now going to take over the Moon, and then the Earth."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Zapp said.

"You mean you don't remember me? He asked. "I guess that's because my teacher is long dead. I'm known as the Master Cylinder!"


	6. Chapter 6

**FuturAstrorama**

_**VI.**_

**Planet Express, New New York City**

**The** Planet Express crew entered the ships hangar and stared at the loading bay next door. The bay was filled up to the ceiling with insulated crates of green cheese.  
>"You guys better get this stuff loaded quickly into the ships cargo hold before it starts to spoil." The Professor said.<p>

Bender staggered into the cockpit of the anti-gravity fork loader and started up the machine. He over-revved the engine and threw it into gear, immediately stripping the gears and destroying the transmission.

"What the heck is the matter with you, Bender?" Leela asked. "You operated that machine like a surgeon yesterday."

"Sorry." Bender said. "Guess I had a little too much beer to drink."

"Jeez!" Amy Wong said. "Just what we don't need around here. A drunk robot operating heavy machinery!"

"I guess we'll have to load this stuff by hand." Leela said. "Everyone get to work!"

Astro entered the loading bay and surveyed the situation. The cargo was already palletized, but without the fork lift loader the crew would have to unload each pallet and carry the individual crates into the ship one by one. The ship's cargo hatch was about 15 feet off the ground, so they would have to use the ramp to carry the crates from the floor of the loading bay to the hangar and into the ship.

"This is going to take forever." Fry moaned.

"No it won't!" Astro said. "Watch this!"

Astro ran into the loading bay and single handedly lifted up a a pallet containing 1000 Kg of cheese. He flew through the air, holding the heavy cargo over his head, and gently dropped it into the ships cargo hold. Astro then flew back for a second pallet. Leela's head rotated back and forth watching Astro zip between the loading dock and the ship's cargo hold. In less than five minutes the entire contents of the loading dock had been transferred to the ship.

While Astro had been flying back and forth, Cobalt, Uran, and Chi-tan had wandered into the hangar to watch their brother start his new job. "Atom-Ani!" Uran cried out, waving her hand.

"OK!" Leela said as Astro landed next to her. "That was fantastic! OK crew, let's get going."

Philip Fry, Amy Wong, and Dr. Zoidberg got on board the ship and took their seats. Astro and Bender headed to the ship's hatchway, but Leela blocked Bender's path.  
>"Why don't you sit this one out, Bender." She said. "You're too drunk to be useful on this trip, Astro will take your place."<p>

"What! And miss Lunar City Disneyland?" Bender said.

"You're grounded!" Leela told the obnoxious robot. "As long as I'm captain, I won't have any intoxicated robots on MY ship!"

"OK, then!" Bender said. "But don't ask for my help when you next need it, cause you won't get it!" Bender marched off to the kitchen and grabbed a six pack of Blotto Beer from the fridge.

"Don't you think you were a little harsh on him, Leela?" Fry asked.

"I'm sorry Fry." Leela said. "But I'm sick and tired of that lazy, drunk, useless robot screwing up on the job. If he's not being incompetent, he's being a thief."

"Yeah, but if he hadn't been up to his usual shoplifting we wouldn't have had Astro to help out." Fry pointed out.

"You're right, Fry." Leela said. "I'll try and make it up to Bender when we get back. But for this trip, Astro is going to take his place, he's earned it."

Astro turned to Leela. "Can my brothers and sister come along?" He asked. "I'm sure they would enjoy the theme park."

"Sure, we've got a few empty seats left in the crew compartment." Leela said, waving for Astro's siblings to join them.

Leela was about to close the hatchway when Bender came running up the gangplank carrying two large canisters. "I told you that you weren't welcome on this trip, Bender!" Leela said grabbing the door handle. Astro saw what he was carrying and spoke up.  
>"Bender has brought extra canisters of atomic energy for my siblings and I," he said. "Thank you Bender! Please Leela, let him come along. He means well."<p>

Leela sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Very well Bender, you can come along." She said. "But as soon as we are out of Earth orbit you'd better get to the galley and drink lots of stuff with caffeine in it and sober up!"

Bender grabbed Leela and gave her a big hug. "Thank you Leela!" he said, taking his seat.

"Wow!" Amy Wong said. "He must have been really plastered to have apologized to you. He never does that when he's sober."

* * *

><p><strong>Lunar City Moon Base<strong>  
><strong>The<strong> crew of the Nimbus were tied up and sitting on the floor of the grand concourse. They were being guarded by about a dozen of the 'mini' cylinder robots. Master Cylinder stood about twenty feet away from them, gloating.

"So just how do you think you are going to take over the Moon and then the Earth?" Zapp Brannigan mocked his captor.

"Actually, I'm in control of the Moon right now." Master Cylinder laughed. "The commander of Lunar City is under my control at this very minute. He knows that I have his family captive, and is afraid of what I might do to them if he doesn't cooperate. As for the Earth, once I have my forces in place in low Earth orbit, I'll be able to threaten raining death and destruction down on the planet if they do not surrender."

"Got you there!" Zapp laughed. "You don't have a space ship."

"True, but after you order your transporter operator to beam my Army and myself up to yours, we will take it over." Master Cylinder laughed.

"I would never give such an order." Zapp snarled. "I'd rather all of my men died first."

"I was rather thinking I'd try torturing you first." Master Cylinder sneered.

"Well in that case." Zapp said. "Maybe we might come to some sort of deal."

Kif looked at Zapp and face palmed.


	7. Chapter 7

**FuturAstrorama**

_**VII.**_

**Earth-Moon System**

**The** entire crew of the Nimbus sat in the brig tied up with silly string.  
>"You traitorous coward!" Kif scowled at Zapp Brannigan. "How could you just allow those robots to be beamed aboard the ship and take control of it!"<p>

"Easy Kif!" Zapp replied. "It's all part of my master plan! I now have them just where they want us!"

"Oy vey!" Kif replied.

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> Planet Express ship was halfway to the moon when the collision alert warning began to beep.  
>"Bring up the forward long range viewer!" Leela said.<p>

Fry activated the controls from his console and the screen slowly focused and the image of the Nimbus appeared.

"Not that idiot, Zapp again!" Leela sighed. "I'm sick and tired of his High School sexual advances on me! I'm going to take some evasive actions and get away from him pronto!"

Leela went to full throttle and changed course, but the Nimbus quickly reacted and kept pace with the Planet Express Ship.

"They're hailing us!" Fry said, as he brought up the ship to ship communications on the main screen.

Instead of the scourge of DOOP, it was the image of the Master Cylinder that appeared on screen.  
>"Attention Earth ship!" the can shaped robot demanded. "Surrender, or prepare to be destroyed!"<p>

Leela made a quick 180 degree turn and hit the throttle.  
>"Oh Crap! They're gaining on us!" Amy Wong cried from her navigation station.<p>

The Nimbus fired several rounds of laser blasts, but Master Cylinder's soldier bots hadn't quite yet figured out the Nimbus's weapons systems and they missed by a good margin. Astro stood up in front of the view screen.  
>"That guy kinda looks familiar to me." he said.<p>

The laser blasts were getting closer.  
>"I think they're getting the hang of the ship" Leela said "I don't think we can stay ahead of them for much longer. Any ideas?"<p>

"Just one." Astro said. "Get me out of this ship!"

"Allow me!" Bender said. He grabbed Astro and carried him towards the back of the ship and into the torpedo room. He opened up the loading door to tube #1 and stuffed Astro into it.

"Firing rear torpedo!" Bender cried and slammed his fist onto the firing button.

**Astro** blasted out of the rear torpedo tube heading straight for the Nimbus.  
>"<em>I can't just destroy the ship,<em>" he thought "t_here are innocent people on board being held captive by those robots._"

Leela kept dodging the laser fire from the Nimbus. Suddenly three photon torpedoes appeared on the radar screen.  
>"Oh Crap!" she yelled as she yanked the ship around to avoid the incoming missiles.<p>

The Nimbus fired another salvo of torpedoes. Astro flew toward the cluster of missiles and hit the first of them with a right uppercut knocking it off course. He kicked the second of the group into the third and the two torpedoes exploded a safe distance away. Now getting close to the Nimbus he headed straight for its torpedo port and smashed his way into the weapons bay. Fighting his way past a group of the can shaped robot soldiers, he used his arm cannons on the weapons control panel.

Suddenly the salvo of laser fire and photon torpedoes from the Nimbus stopped.  
>"I bet Astro just took their weapons systems off line." Bender said with some pride.<p>

Astro made his way through the ship and headed for the brig. He had to fight his way past another group of soldier bots that suddenly surrounded him at the junction of four intersecting corridors. Astro wheeled quickly about on the balls of his feet, his butt guns blazing. Within a few seconds the floor was littered with out of commission soldier bots.

Astro reached the brig and used his finger lasers to cut open the locked doors, freeing the men of the Nimbus. He untied a few of the crew, including Zapp and Kif.

"Who are you? and thanks for coming to our aid." Zapp replied.

"I'm Astro, a robot from New Tokyo." Astro said.

"Look out, behind you!" Kif cried out, too late!

Suddenly two heavy claws grabbed Astro from behind by the neck. He found himself being throttled by a giant can shaped monster robot. A magnetic laser beam hit him and he felt his energy being drained.

"NOBODY DEFEATS THE MASTER CYLINDER!" came the voice from behind Astro.

Zapp Brannigan and Kif watched in horror as Astro fought against the power drain of the magnetic laser being fired at him, and the grip of the two heavy claws around his neck. He slumped forward, and fell limp. Master Cylinder shut down his magnetic ray and was about to toss Astro's limp form aside when suddenly he was hit by a hail of armor piercing shells. Astro extended the two hip guns from his butt and emptied both clips into Master Cylinder!

Both of the huge robot's arms were shot off, and his power supply shorted out. Master Cylinder fell to the floor and started sparking and smoking.

The crew of the Nimbus ran out of the brig and quickly shut the doors behind them, leaving Master Cylinder inside. Just as the heavy doors of the brig snapped shut, the large robot exploded.

**Zapp **Brannigan led the crew of the Nimbus toward the transporter room.  
>"I'm volunteering all of you for a detail to beam back down to Lunar City to free the city from what remains of Master Cylinder's army. With their leader now dead, we should have an easy time of it!"<p>

As the crew grouped themselves onto the transporter pads, Kif yelled to his commanding officer.  
>"You don't really expect that you'll find the Master Cylinder's army that easy to overpower do you?" The second in command asked.<p>

"Certainly!" Zapp replied. "they are now leaderless, and confused. We must hurry before we loose that advantage!"

Astro motioned to Kif, who stepped off the transporter pad just as the beams were energized.  
>"Put on a spacesuit." Astro told the slender green officer. "We'll fly over to the base and sneak in thought the back door, so to speak."<p>

Astro and Kif watched as Zapp and his soldiers dematerialized from the transporter and were beamed over to the very same point on the moon base where they had first arrived.

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> Nimbus boarding party materialized in the middle of the Lunar City grand concourse to again find themselves surrounded by armed robot soldiers. This time both armies had their guns drawn to a Mexican standoff.

"Surrender, we've got you surrounded!" Zapp yelled out.

"No, YOU surrender, we've got YOU surrounded!" a deep electronic voice called out from behind where Zapp Brannigan was standing.

Zapp quickly turned his head to see Master Cylinder standing behind him, holding a rather large anti-matter ray gun.

"What are you doing here?" Zapp asked. "You blew up on the Nimbus!"

"I've been here all this time." Master Cylinder laughed. "My clone beamed up to your ship to take it over. No matter, we can simply try the matter all over again.!"

**Kif** held on tightly to Astro with his arm gripped around his neck while the boy robot flew towards the Planet Express ship. Strapped to his back was a duffel bag containing firearms from the Nimbus. They entered through the rear airlock behind the cargo bay.

"How did it go?" Leela asked as the two of them entered the ship's bridge.

"Astro over powered the Master Cylinder and the crew quickly captured the robot army that had taken over the Nimbus." Kif explained. "Only now my duffus CO is about to beam back to Lunar City, right into the middle of the lion's den."

"It's obvious that the Master Cylinder that I destroyed on the Nimbus was a clone of the the one on the moon." Astro said. "Zapp was too full of himself to consider the possibility."

"Tell me about it!" Leela face palmed. "So now what do we do?"

"Take the ship in for a landing on the far side of the moon." Kif explained. "There is an abandoned base there that has a tunnel connection to Lunar City. With any luck the robots will not have discovered it, as it has been abandoned for centuries."

"Right, we can surprise them." Leela agreed.

* * *

><p><strong>Uran<strong> remained behind with little Chi-tan, while Cobalt joined his brother in the assault. Leela, Amy, Fry, and Zoidberg donned spacesuits as the old tunnel had been depressurized for years. Astro took the point position and lead the small army through the abandoned tunnel. He illuminated the way through the dark passageway with his eye searchlights. Each member of the contingent carried a laser rifle Kif had brought with him from the Nimbus arms locker. Bender carried the largest one, a monster that looked like a cross between a cannon and a tuba. Clamped in the obnoxious robot's mouth was a big fat cigar. He also had put an NRA badge on his chest.

The army finally reached the airlock leading into the old section of Lunar City. Bender tried to crank the door lock open, but it was rusted shut.

"Let me give you a hand with that." Astro said. Astro added his 100,000 HP to Bender's and the two of them cracked the door open.

"We make a great team!" Bender laughed, punching Astro on the shoulder.

Once inside the city, the humans stripped off their spacesuits, and Bender lit his cigar.

"Must you?" Leela moaned, coughing from the smoke.

Astro's feet squeaked quietly as they snuck towards the city jail where the robots had imprisoned the city officers. There was only a small group of robots guarding the jail and they quickly overpowered them with minimal gun fire (except for the tremendous blast from the BFG Bender was armed with).

"Why the hell did you bring THAT thing along?" Leela asked Kif, pointing to the huge melted pile of robots in the middle of the corridor.

"You never know." Kif answered.

"Now we need to find where the crew of the Nimbus are being held." Cobalt pointed out. "I hope that Master Cylinder hasn't transported back over to the Nimbus."

"That isn't going to happen." Kif said proudly. "Just before Astro and I left the ship, we disabled the transporters on the Nimbus and activated the cloaking shield. The only way back on board is though the airlock that we exited from."

Kif pulled out a tricorder from his pocket. "Each member of the Nimbus crew has a nano tracking device implanted under his skin." He explained, "I've got my tricorder tuned to Zapp's right now. Follow me."

Kif lead the way along the back corridors of the Lunar base. They soon approached the Grand Concourse where they had first beamed down earlier. Once again, the crew of the Nimbus had been disarmed and tied up by the robot army. Master Cylinder stood with his back facing where the advancing column was hiding from view.

"Now what are we going to do?" Leela asked.

"I actually think that Zapp had the right idea." Kif said. "Knock out the leader and the rest of the robots will be helpless without direction."

"All right, then." Astro smirked, morphing his left arm into a particle beam cannon, "He's not getting the drop on me again!"

Astro aimed and fired a quick blast at the huge robot. Master Cylinder was stunned, but he quickly turned around. Bender opened fire with the BFG at the same time that the other members of the Planet Express crew fired their laser rifles. Cobalt took careful aim with the weapon he had been issued, hitting Master Cylinder squarely in the ass where his recharge port was. The giant robot started glowing red hot.

"Great shooting Tex! Kif cried out. "He's going to explode!"

Astro flew forward and grabbed Master Cylinder, blasting through the roof of the building. He dropped the now white hot enemy about fifty miles from the base and flew back to join his friends, just as Master Cylinder self destructed with a 20 Kiloton detonation.


	8. Chapter 8

**FuturAstrorama**

_**VIII.**_

**Back **on the Nimbus, Zapp Brannigan reported to D.O.O.P. HQ that he had put down the robot uprising on Lunar City, and that the colony was slowly returning to normal. Kif face palmed and sighed.

"Prepare to return to patrol duty." Brannigan told his second in command. "We are going back to our regular route about this part of the galaxy."

"Yes sir." Kif sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> crew of the Planet Express ship watched from the Lunar City dome as the Nimbus left orbit and entered warp drive, leaving an aurora trail behind as it entered hyperspace.

"Well, at least that big fat blow hard Zapp is out of my hair," Leela said.

With the un-pleasantries over with, the crew proceeded to unload the green  
>cheese from the ships refrigerated cargo bay. Astro again helped with the unloading. They then volunteered to assist with the general cleanup around the base. It took a week before things were totally back to normal.<p>

"Hey Professor!" Leela radioed back to her boss on Earth, "Now that we've helped get things back to normal around here, and managed to deliver all that smelly cheese, we're going to check out Lunar Disney."

"Enjoy yourselves!" Farnsworth replied. "But make sure you get back here in a week. You know what day it is, don't you.?"

"Oh yeah!" Leela said. "Don't worry, we'll be back in time tho help you board up the place so we will all be safe."

Bender overheard the conversation and pulled a calendar out from inside of his chest cavity to look at it. "Well, I don't have anything to worry about!" he smirked. "I'm a robot!"

Uran kept a close eye on Chi-tan at the theme park. The little bot did manage to wander off once while Uran was on one of the E-ticket rides, but Bender caught him and kept him amused until Uran returned.

* * *

><p><strong>New New York City<strong>  
><strong>When<strong> the Planet Express ship landed back at the hangar on Earth the pre-panic had already started to set in. Astro and Cobalt recognized there was something wrong in NNYC right away. Astro inquired the professor about this.

"Farnsworth Hakase," he asked "I couldn't help but notice that everyone seems a bit jumpy. Did anything happen here while we were on the moon?"

"No, nothing unusual." the professor answered. "It always gets a bit crazy this time of year."

"Why?" Astro asked.

"It will be Xmas eve in a few days." Farnsworth said, "And Santa will come."

"Santa Claus is just a story told to children." Astro said.

"A thousand years ago, in your time, he was." Farnsworth replied. "In the year 3000, he is very real. Some years ago, around 2801 I think, the Friendly Robot Company designed a Santa robot for one of the department stores. They equipped his AI with software to judge how naughty or nice a person had been for the purpose of present selection. Unfortunately someone hacked into their computer and modified that code so that the robot would think everyone was evil. The robot escaped to Neptune, but he comes back to Earth every Xmas to punish the naughty with extreme prejudice. We've lost count of the number of people that Robot Santa has killed. Funny thing though, Robot Santa always leaves a nice Xmas present for Zoidberg. Anyway, now everyone has to board up their houses on Xmas to keep Santa from breaking in."

"That's horrible!" Uran said.

"Yeah!" Cobalt added. "Astro, we've got to do something about him."

"I don't believe this." Astro sighed. "I've only been re-awakened for two weeks and I'm going to have to fight yet another evil robot!"

"Let me bring up his design spec's on my computer." the professor said. "I've tried to find a weak spot in his armor for years, but so far I haven't been able to design a weapon to destroy him."

Farnsworth activated the holographic monitor display on his computer and hacked his way though the Internet. He soon had Robot Santa's blueprints displayed on the monitor, hanging in the 3D space in mid air.  
>"You can page trough the document by moving your hands though the image." he told Astro.<p>

"Hey Cobalt, come over here!" Astro said. "I need your help!"

The two robot brothers read through all the pages of Santa's design documentation.

"I sure wish Reno was here." Astro sighed. "This guy is going to be every bit as tough to fight as Pluto was."

"He doesn't have any built in weapons." Farnsworth said. "But he sure does know how to build them. He will have several anti proton guns, and surge cannons in his sled, as well as conventional lasers and bombs."

"I'm not too worried about those." Astro said. "It's his shielding and armor systems that make him a pain in the butt. I'd have to hit him point blank with both of my arm cannons at full charge to have a chance of putting a dent in him."

"Yeah he is a tough cookie." the professor said. "He wasn't designed as a walking tank, but after he escaped to Neptune he enslaved the local population and made them rebuild his defense systems. The Neptunians now have to dress like elves and kiss up to that fake Claus."

"Well that settles it!" Astro said pounding a fist into an open palm. "I'm going to have to destroy him and free the people of Neptune while I'm at it."  
>Astro noticed Bender trying to sneak out of the room. He grabbed the robot by his neck and yanked him back towards him.<br>"I'm going to need your help on this, Bender!"

"No way!" Bender yelled. "I'm not going to help you destroy a fellow human hating robot."

"You know what Bender?" Astro said, "You remind me of a robot I once knew who hated humans so much that he was always acting as a terrorist. The police were constantly after him, and I ended up fighting him so often that I needed my own private repairman on a 24/7 retainer."

"I just kid around about that." Bender said, "I never really meant it. I mean, some of my best friends are humans."

"I thought so." Astro said. "So you will help me?"

"Yeah, but don't tell anybody. I don't want to ruin my reputation!" Bender said.


	9. Chapter 9

**FuturAstrorama**

_**IX.**_

**Astro** helped Professor Farnsworth get the heavy panels out from the basement where they'd been stored since last Xmas. Astro and Bender installed the panels over the windows and doors under the professor's directions. Only the already heavily armored side door didn't need any additional protection, and it could be bared from the inside.

"We'll be safe in here now." Professor Farnsworth said. "Now what?"

"Come Xmas eve I'll be outside waiting for Santa!" Astro said pounding a fist into his palm. "This is going to be Santa's last Xmas raising hell on Earth!"

"Are you sure you handle him?" Bender asked. "The police and military bots hid from him on Xmas eve. Santa comes to Earth armed and loaded for bear."

"Years ago I had to stand up to a monster robot that was designed to destroy other robots." Astro said. "Pluto had ten times my strength, but I had my creator increase my mine to one million horsepower and he also gave me some additional fire power. Yeah I can take this Santa bot on. With any luck I'll be able to get him to see the light of day as I did Pluto. If not, well if I have to destroy him I will!"

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> Nimbus returned to her patrol between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Zapp Brannigan was pissed off. Once again D.O.O.P. command had assigned him and his crew patrol duty during the Xmas holiday.

"You know Kif," Zapp waxed in thought, "I'm sick of this Xmas patrol every year. What the hell is D.O.O.P. thinking?"

"Maybe they're hoping you can prevent Santa from making his usual Xmas strafing run on the Earth," his first in command suggested.

"You know, that's right!" Zapp laughed. "Well the crew can use the target practice! Put the ship in orbit around Jupiter Kif, when Santa passes our way in route to Earth from Neptune we'll blast him out of existence with full phasers and photo torpedoes! Tell the weapons officer to fine tune the targeting computers. HO HO HO!" he laughed.

Right on schedule Santa left Neptune for his night of retribution across Earth. His sled-space ship was loaded with bombs, rifles, lasers and lots of ammo. He also had packed a nice present for Zoidberg.

The Nimbus lay in waiting around Jupiter.  
>"Sensors report Santa's sled in route" Kif reported from navigation bridge.<p>

"Prepare to break out of orbit and follow that sled!" Zapp ordered. "Plot me an intercept course!"

The Nimbus fired up her warp engines and got behind Santa's sled just as the renegade robot passed the giant planet.

"Weapons officer reports we have a target lock on Santa!" Kif replied.

"Good, let him have it!" Zapp ordered, "Fire all weapons!"

At the last moment Santa's sled accelerated and quickly pulled away from the Nimbus.

"Looks like he's on to us, sir!" Kif said.

"Well go to a higher warp factor and catch up to him!" Zapp ordered. "I want to see his butt on my view screen!"

"He's pulled into the asteroid belt to hid!" Kif reported.

"Follow him, damn it!" Zapp yelled.

For the next few minutes Santa's sled and the Nimbus played a game of chicken dodging asteroids, with the Nimbus slowly drawing closer to its prey. Santa-bot reached into the back of his sled and picked up a huge phaser cannon, and turned around to aim it at the Nimbus.

"In coming!" Kif yelled as a phaser blast tore a hole through the lower decks of the ship.

"Return fire!" Zapp yelled.

The Nimbus fired off a barrage of photo torpedoes and several quick blasts of phaser fire. Santa bot flew a quick zig zag course and managed to avoid the Nimbus weapons fire. Two of the torpedoes blasted against a large planetoid sending fragments of it in all directions setting up a chain reaction that caused other asteroids flying toward the Nimbus. Two of the wayward rocks knocked her engines off line, the Nimbus slowed down and drifted in space.

"Shit!" Zapp moaned. "He got away again!"

"That's not the worst of it." Kif sighed.

"You mean there's more bad news?" Zapp asked.

"Yes. One of our photon torpedoes knocked a minor planetoid out of its orbit sending it inward." Kif replied. "I'm tracking it now, it looks like it will hit NNYC in a few days."

"Oh crap!" Zapp sighed. "I don't think D.O.O.P. will like that very much!"

* * *

><p><strong>A<strong> few hours before Xmas eve found the Planet Express crew hunkered down in their HQ building with the doors and windows barred. They were both scared and bored at the same time. Leela and Fry kept busy by playing strip poker, Leela had so far given up only her tank top, Fry was down to his underwear. Uran was trying to keep Chi-tan amused with some toys that Bender had found in the basement, Cobalt and the Professor were monitoring the space band radio. Astro stood by the door, waiting to walk out and face his adversary.

"Hey Astro!" Cobalt yelled out. "We've got another problem."

"Now what?" Astro asked.

"I just heard a report on the space band that a rather large asteroid is on a collision course with the Earth." he said. "Looks like it will impact in NNYC late Xmas day!"

Leela overheard Cobalt. "Where is that stupid Zapp Brannigan when you need him?" she moaned.

"What do you mean?" Cobalt said. "The Nimbus was the cause of that asteroid changing orbit, and the ship is now dead in space."

"Yeah, I should have guessed that!" Leela laughed.

"So after I destroy this Santa bot, I've got to divert an asteroid!" Astro moaned. "Great!"


	10. Chapter 10

**FuturAstrorama**

_**X.**_

**The** sun slowly slipped below the NNYC horizon marking the start of Xmas eve.

"It's starting." Professor Farnsworth sighed. "Everyone keep away from the doors and windows!"

"I'm going out to face Santa." Astro said as he quickly opened the heavily armed side door and quickly slammed it shut. The door automatically barred and quintuple locked itself behind him.

"Good luck!" everyone in the building cried out.

**Astro** walked though the deserted streets of the usually busy city. All along the busy avenues doors were locked, windows were boarded up, the only sounds were the wind blowing trash around. A full moon had already rose above the horizon in an almost cloudless sky. Astro cupped his hands to his ears and increased his hearing to 1000x normal power. He rotated his head, and listened for the sound of Santa's sled flying though the atmosphere. He could barely make out the sound of explosions and laser fire coming from the west, over New New Jersey. Astro leap into the air and flew in the direction indicated.

"HO HO HO!" Santa yelled as he lit a fresh stick of TNT and hurled it though the plate glass window of a shopping mall. Moments later there was an explosion that blew out the walls and lifted the roof of the building. A crowd of people that had been taking refuse in the building ran out the rear entrance just in time to avoid being caught in the blast.

"HO HO HO!" Santa yelled as he selected a small caliber photon gun from his arsenal and aimed it at the fleeing crowd. He deliberately fired wide on his first strafing run to scare the crowd, but then turned around for a second pass and engaged his radar sights.  
>Just as the red and white robot was about to pull the trigger on his firearm his sled was knocked off course as Astro slammed into it as he dived down from several thousand feet above. Santa lost his grip on the weapon, but he quickly regained control of his sled and selected a larger gun from his sack and turned to face his attacker.<p>

"No presents or coal for you!" he laughed at Astro. "You've been a VERY naughty boy!"

"I don't think so!" Astro yelled as he accelerated toward the devil of Xmas.

Santa started shooting, but Astro quickly dodged his laser fire, waiting for an opening to get closer. Santa's weapon paused for a moment to recharge between bursts giving Astro his chance. He zoomed in and yanked the weapon from Santa, bending it into a pretzel shape and wrapping it around the robot's head. Astro then yanked Santa-bot from his sled and carried him high into the air.

"Let go of me you naughty boy!" Santa yelled.

"With pleasure!" Astro laughed, releasing his foe at an altitude of 20,000 feet.

"HO HO HO you fool!" Santa laughed as his remote controlled sled zoomed up in the air to catch him.

"I wasn't counting on that!" Astro muttered to himself as Santa executed an Immelmann turn and selected a huge cannon from his sack. The particle beam weapon caught Astro off guard and he was knocked backwards from the blast. He ricocheted off the structure of the long abandoned Pulaski Skyway and hit the ground.

Astro quickly recovered from the attack and took off using both his leg and arm jets to quickly catch up with Santa who was about to resume his strafing run on locals.

"No you don't!" Astro yelled as he executed an outside loop around Santa's sled with his hip guns blazing.

The sled was raked by the armor piercing depleted uranium shells causing it to veer off course. Santa, who was not damaged by the hail of bullets, quickly regained control of his sled and looked for his attacker.

"HO HO HO .. RAMMING SPEED!" Santa yelled as he took aim at Astro and accelerated the sled to Mach 1.

"I'm through playing with you Santa!" Astro yelled as he morphed his arms into the surge cannons and took aim at the sled.

Astro's double blast lit up the early evening sky over New Hoboken like the 4th of July. The dual particle beams of Astro's arm cannons melted the runners off of the sled and singed the tassels on Santa's cap as the sled fell out of control toward the ground.  
>Santa was an ace pilot and he pulled out of the dive just before hitting the ground to make a very rough landing, skidding along for several hundred feet and leaving a huge furrow in the ground. Astro landed a few feet away from Santa, his arm cannons still smoking and aimed at the red and white robot's head.<p>

"What gives with you!" Astro yelled. "Do you realize just how stupid you are? You were created to be the image of a saint, yet you act like the devil!"

Smoke wafted from Santa's ears. He was visibly shaken, but mostly still operating within his normal parameters.

"Mankind is naughty!" Santa shouted. "It is my function to hand out presents to the good, and punish the evil! I don't seem to have you on my list. Who are you?"

"Your list is a bit out of date!" Astro yelled. "I'm a robot from 1000 years in the past. When I was created robots were programmed according to the 4 laws of robotics, and were logically committed to serving the good of mankind. Your programming is defective!"

"Nonsense!" Santa yelled. "The zeroth law demands that I must protect mankind, even at the expense of a few evil humans."

"Name a human on your list that ISN'T evil" Astro shouted.

Santa's eyes rolled as his brain was caught in an endless loop.

"If you can't separate good from evil and must destroy all mankind to save mankind then you are in violation of the Zeroth law by obeying it!" Astro yelled. "Lower your standards, or blow yourself up!"

Santa seemed to be fighting the circular logic in his mind for a few minutes. Finally, he reached into his sack and withdrew a thermal bomb and activated the timer.  
>"HO HO HO! Goodbye!"<p>

Just as Santa bot was about to toss the bomb in Astro's direction Astro fired his surge cannons again, this time using every drop of his one million horsepower. There was a huge explosion, with a mushroom cloud rising up a few hundred feet into the air. The heat of the blast expanded outward for blocks blasting Astro several thousand feet to the east where he landed in the middle of junk yard.

Astro flew back to where Santa had been. Amazingly the sled was still intact, though thrown far down the street by the blast. Santa lay on the ground, heavily charred and dented. His eyes glowed red for a few seconds.

"HO HO ho..." he said as his eyes went dark and his body became still and rigid.

Astro picked up Santa and strapped him into his sled. He picked the sled up and flew back across the Hudson toward NNYC and the Planet Express building.


	11. Chapter 11

**FuturAstrorama**

_**XI.**_

**Santa's** sled sat in the hangar next to the Planet Express ship. Santa itself was strapped to a heavy operating table in the Professor's laboratory.

"What did you do to him?" Bender asked.

"I tried to talk some sense into him, and his AI melted down into a circular logic loop." Astro replied. "He seemed to resolve the problem by trying to blow both of us up."

"Yes, robots of his model series were very prone to logical conundrum lockups." Professor Farnsworth replied, "Although I recall that that sort of thing was attempted many times in the past to deactivate Santa, and it never worked."

"Was the logic question proposed to him by a human or a robot in those attempts?" Astro asked.

"Ah yes! I see what you mean! Only a robot could plant a logic bomb into Santa! His AI would not have been receptive to being manipulated by a human."

"Professor Fansworth?" Astro said, "We still have the problem of that asteroid heading for impact here about 12 hours from now. Do you have any data on it?"

"I can bring up its tracking on my computer." The professor said walking over to the other side of the laboratory. He activate a holographic display monitor and the image of the asteroid appeared along with readouts on its mass, speed and heading. "You can scan through the readings by moving your hands through the display," he told Astro.  
>Astro scrolled through the data, and rotated the view to get a good look at the asteroid from all angles.<p>

"It's a big one." he sighed. "Too big for me to deflect out of the way, and I don't have enough energy left to blast it into smaller pieces. We need some more fire power."

"Too bad the Nimbus isn't available." Leela said. "Although I wouldn't trust Zapp to do the job anyway."

"My ship doesn't have any weapons installed, and there probably isn't enough time to do that even if we had them." Farnsworth sighed.

"Hey there are a lot of big guns in here!" Bender said as he rummaged through the huge sack in the back of Santa's sled.

"Yeah, he's right." Astro replied. "But I don't think we could mount them on the ship in time."

"I think I could repair Santa's sled-rocket in about an hour." The professor said.

"And I could fly it." Bender added.

"You couldn't handle the flight controls and the guns at the same time." Astro said. "It would take three robots to do the job, two in the sled, and me knocking the chunks of asteroid out of the way."

"What about us?" Uran and Cobalt cried out together.

"Wouldn't work, neither of you have any experience with weapons or space ships and there is no time to train you." Astro replied.

"Then I guess I'll have to repair Santa." the professor said.

"Are you nuts!" Leela yelled. "He's a homicidal maniac!"

"I'll reprogram his AI." The professor said. "In its current state it would be very receptive to new suggestions, Especially if I use a mind transfer between Astro and Santa."

"What!" Uran yelled.

"No, it's OK!" Astro said. "I know exactly what he wants to do. We will set up a mind link between me and Santa and I will plant the necessary suggestions into his electronic brain. I'll hypnotize him into being good!"

"Exactly!" the professor cried out.

* * *

><p><strong>Astro<strong> and the professor worked quickly to reactivate robot Santa. Astro wired a network connection between his electronic brain and Santa's, and the professor connected Santa up to his computer and began to reboot him.

Astro found himself in a vast white expanse of empty space. Robot Santa was lying down on a couch, and Astro was standing next to him wearing a white lab coat.  
>"Great, the professor has programmed me to appear as Sigmund Freud to Santa!" he laughed.<p>

Santa Robot opened his eyes and looked at Astro Freud.

"How do you feel, Santa?" Astro asked.

"Strange?" Santa said. "Where am I."

"In analyses." Astro said. "What is your purpose, and how does that relate to humans?"

"My purpose is to reward worthy humans on Xmas, and punish bad humans." Santa said.

"But what about the first law?" Astro asked. "You may not physically injure any humans."

"Yes that is true. However I may punish them by not rewarding them with nice presents on Xmas."

"Very good!" Astro said. "You must obey all commands by humans, providing they do not conflict with your prime purpose and do not disobey the first law. That is the second law. Finally, you must protect your own existence, providing that does not conflict with the first two laws."

"I must also protect all of humanity, even if I must hurt a small number of humans." Santa said. "That is the zeroth law."

"That is true." Astro said, "But in balance you must do more good than harm."  
>"I agree." Santa replied.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> void dissolved and Astro was back in the laboratory Robot Santa was sitting up on the workbench.

"Did I miss Xmas?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," Astro said. "but we have a more important problem that requires your help."

"What is it?" Santa asked.

"We need you to fly your sled-rocket to an encounter with an asteroid to destroy it." Astro replied. "Earth, and mankind are in danger unless we can deflect it out of the way."

"I'll fly shotgun with you" Bender added.

"I've got your sled repaired." the professor said. "It may handle a bit rough though."

"No problem." Santa replied. "HO HO HO, lets do it!"

Astro quickly recharged himself using the last of the atomic fuel left in the professor's tank. It would be enough to get him into space. Bender and Santa took off and and Astro followed them. They soon were in the void between the orbit of Earth and Mars, the asteroid was now dead ahead of them.

"This is going to be fun!" Bender said pulling out a huge atomic cannon out of Santa's sack. He handed the weapon to Santa and grabbed another even bigger one for himself.

Astro morphed his left arm into a surge cannon and took aim.  
>"OK guys," he radioed to the sled, "Lets try combining our fire on the weakest point on that rock, I think the crack in the crater near the equator ought to do it."<p>

"Sounds like a plan!" Bender replied, giving Santa a slap on the shoulder and pointing to the target.

The three of them fired simultaneously. There was a small explosion on the surface of the asteroid, but not much else.

"I think we opened the crack up a bit." Astro said. "Let's try that again."

Bender grabbed another huge cannon out of Santa's sack. "This time I'm going to use TWO guns at the same time" Bender said.

"OK, Tex." Astro laughed, let's do it.

Once again they fired, this time Astro used both of his arm cannons, Bender and Santa held two cannons each. The six beams converged on the asteroid's weak spot, and the planetoid blew apart into about a dozen smaller fragments.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Astro yelled. He flew about smacking each of the smaller chunks into new orbits that would take them far away from Earth to an eventual encounter with the sun. When the last one had been dispatched, Astro felt faint.

"Hey guys, would you mind picking me up?" Astro called out. "I think I'm all out of energy and I can't make it back to Earth by myself."

Santa piloted his sled to an intercept with Astro, and Bender pulled him on board. They soon were back in the Planet Express Hangar.

* * *

><p><strong>A few weeks later …<strong>  
>"Good news everyone!" Professor Farnsworth said as he walked into the Planet Express employee lounge. "We've got another order to deliver more of Mom's Robot oil to the Ministry of Science in Japan."<p>

"What's that, a repeat customer?" Hermes Conrad said, "Hey that's a first!"

"Yes they insisted to Mom that we do the delivery or they would cancel all future orders with her," the professor replied, "Can you imagine that?"

"Oh by the way Astro," Leela said, "I bumped into Elzar during lunch and he had some news for me. He's heard from his relatives on Neptune that Santa really has turned over a new leaf and things are looking a lot better on Neptune for the natives. He's raised their salaries by 1000 percent and they now have employee health care including a dental plan."

"Yeah well I told Santa that if he didn't straighten things up on his home world I'd go there and kick his butt!" Astro said.

Farnsworth returned wearing what looked like a WWI pilots uniform. "I'm going with you guys on this one on the insistence of Professor Ochanomizu. He also wants Astro and his siblings to come as well.

"I think I'd better sit this one out!" Bender sighed, "I've got a feeling there might be a Japanese warrant out for my arrest!"

"Yeah for grand theft." Leela smirked.

"What did Bender steal?" Astro asked.

"Only the four of you!" Leela said looking at Astro, Cobalt, Uran, and Chi-tan.

"You're coming with us Bender, I insist!" Astro said. "Don't worry, I promise you you won't get in trouble, I'll see to it!"

"Well OK." Bender said. "I'll do anything for you Astro, buddy."

**All **of the robots, except for Chi-tan, helped load the ships cargo hold with the 1332 pallets of Mom's robot oil. Once again, Bender made quadruple sure that the cargo was securely tied down in the ships hold.

* * *

><p><strong>New Tokyo Japan<strong>

It was a quick trip over the north pole toward Japan, and they again landed in the parking lot at the Ministry of Science in New Tokyo.  
>Professor Ochanomizu was waiting in the parking lot to greet them. He quickly found Professor Farnsworth and rushed over to him.<p>

"Thanks for coming to New Tokyo, Professor." He said, "I hope you've brought Astro and the other four robots along with you."

"Yes they are among my crew." Farnsworth said. "I hope you aren't too upset at Bender for borrowing them. He has a soft sport for his robot ancestors, and he's also a bit of a kleptomaniac."

"Actually we're very grateful toward him, and you." Ochanomizu laughed. "Despite the fact that robotics once reached its zenith in Japan, the art has mostly been forgotten here. Without your help, and Bender's bit of felony, Astro and his siblings would still be gathering dust in our museum."

Ochanomizu turned toward Astro and embraced him. "Welcome home, Astro!" he said. "There are a few others that would like to meet you."

Astro followed Ochanomizu into the head museum. Up on one of the shelves the head of Dr. Tenma was looking down.  
>"Hello Tobio!" Tenma cried out. Astro looked up and recognized the face in the jar.<p>

"Dad?, Hakase!" he yelled up, "You're still alive?"

"If you can call this living." Dr. Tenma said. "About a century after you were put into the museum the technology to bring the heads of the dead back to life was discovered, and so here I am!"

"Astro!" the head of the original professor Ochanomizu yelled down from the shelf. "You're back!"

"Yes I am." Astro said.

"You know he saved the world again!" Tenma said. "Diverted an asteroid that could have wiped us out."

"I had some help on that." Astro said.

"You're too modest!" Tenma said. "See, I told you that Astro will again take his place among robots!"

"Go button it!" Ochanomizu said.

"Will you guys cut that out!" the younger Ochanomizu said.

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> Planet Express crew unloaded the last of the robot oil and Professor Farnsworth handed the bill of lading to the younger Ochanomizu, who signed it, and gave professor Farnsworth a check for the delivery.  
>"We will expect a new shipment from you every other month." Ochanomizu said. You guys can visit Astro and his family whenever you return.<p>

"Visit? Astro do you mean that your not coming back with us?" Farnsworth asked.

"Yeah, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you, but I never got up the nerve." Astro sighed. "I talked it over with my brother and sister, Japan is our home, we have lots of memories here. I'm sorry, but we've been very homesick ever since you reawakened us."

"That's OK, my boy." Farnsworth said, giving Astro a big hug. For the next half hour, all of the Planet Express crew exchanged hugs and goodbyes with Astro, Cobalt, Uran, and even Chi-tan.

Bender was visibly touched, he went though a box of Kleenex blowing his nose. Finally it was time for the Planet Express crew to leave. As the ship lifted off, Astro, Uran, and Cobalt waved good bye, and Chi-tan started crying which caused a magnitude 6.7 Earthquake.

_The End (for now)_


End file.
